Lockheed And His Pet Girl Kitty
by Madripoor Rose
Summary: Lockheed meddles.


LOCKHEED AND HIS PET GIRL KITTY

BY MADRIPOOR ROSE

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction done solely for entertainment purposes. These characters belong to Marvel Entertainment, no copyright infringement intended.

Having finished trimming the last of several overgrown evergreens on the Xavier estate, Piotr Rasputin tossed the last heavy blue spruce bough onto the brush pile he had assembled, not far from Breakstone Lake.

Beyond the boundaries of the manicured lawns and formal gardens of the mansion's grounds, this was wilder land, closer to the forest that had once covered upstate New York. After letting the freshly cut branches dry out a bit, here where the grass underneath wouldn't be spoilt, perhaps they could have a bonfire.

The pile was almost five feet across and three feet high. It would burn nicely. Piotr took a deep breath of cool pine scented air and pictured it, the crackling fire, hot chocolate, Kitty cuddling closer under a blanket...

Smiling to himself, he picked up the hatchet and pruning shears and headed off to the gardener's shed, unaware that he was being observed from above. The peregrine-sized purple dragon circled around the lake again, then glided to a landing on one of the jutting branches at the edge of the pile, nostrils flaring at the pleasantly spicy scent. "CooOOOooo," he sighed approvingly, but shook his head and tail in dismay.

Unheard by human ear, Lockheed sighed. "Silly Peedur. Nest needs shinees. And not all pokesharptwigs. Need soft warm fuzzee for Kitteegurl and eggs."

It was a good start, but obviously Peedur had never built a nest before. If he wanted Kittee to be his mate, Lockheed was going to have to help him.

Soft warm fuzzee first. Climbing deeper into the pile, he began breaking off twigs and rearranging the branches to form a large hollow. He lined it with dead leaves and moss, and shredded cattails from the marshy banks of the lake. Not quite enough to fully line the nest. Peepul were awfully big. But he knew where to find more fuzzees.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Rogue frowned, and wrapped her slipping towel around herself a little more securely, then dug through the linen closet again. Towels. Toilet paper, and boxes of tissues. Cleaning supplies. Bottles of shampoo and shower gel, mouthwash, bars of soap...the usual stockpiled general use toiletries. Everything except the one item she was looking for.

"Now I coulda sworn we had a big 'ol bag of cotton balls, brand new, just yesterday," she muttered, and turned back to the vanity. She could use a wadded up tissue to apply facial toner, but it just wasn't the same. She made a mental note to add cotton balls to the shopping list.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Lockheed patted the last cotton ball into place and studied his progress. Fuzzee and fluffee, but warm enough?

XxXxXxXxXxX

Logan was going into the city. As he shrugged on his leather jacket, he noticed that the hall coat closet was kinda messy, as if someone had been rummaging through it. He left it as it was. Cleaning up wasn't his job. Even if he had, he wouldn't have noticed that a pair of cashmere wraps that had belonged to Jean were missing.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The nest was lined, all of the sharp pine needles carefully covered with layers of leaves and moss and cattails, cotton balls and cashmere.

Now it needed decoration. Many shinees, sparklee chips of brightly colored crystal, to attract the female eye, to outshine the nests of other courting males. Peedur was lucky, Lockheed thought. No other males competing for Kittee. Shinee stuff was very hard to find here.

The garbage cans were always a good place to look. Tinfoil and cigar bands, shredded and carefully woven into the outer branches. Bottle caps and bits of broken colored glass, sharp edges melted smooth with a controlled burst of flame. It would have been enough for a dragon nest. Peepul were too big, and Peedur was bigger than most peepul. This nest needed more shinees.

Kittee had a collection of favorite shinees.

Joolree.

That would help.

Ransacking the dresser for shinees, Lockheed hit the big hoard. Rings, earrings, bracelets, pins and necklaces. Rhinestone bedecked barrettes. And loose beads: seed pearls, rainbow colored sequins, triangular and rosebud shaped beads, crystal, silver colored and gold, natural stone and neon plastic, leftovers from Sprite's earlier attempts at costume design.

And Kittee's favorite shinee...the one she only took off when she was in the Danger Room, the golden star on a thin gold chain. That would have to go in a very special part of the nest.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Kitty rubbed the back of her neck tiredly as she opened the door to her bedroom. She'd been down in the Danger Room, running a gymnastic program. Nothing too strenuous, but it used different muscles than either dance class or training simulations.

She was looking forward to a hot shower, and then snagging a bag of Oreo cookies and curling up with a book. She was halfway through the latest Star Wars tie-in novel, and the natives of a primitive world had just captured Chewie for a carnival. Han didn't know yet, he was busy breaking into a temple where the natives worshipped a fuel cell as one of their god's tears. They couldn't get the Millennium Falcon off the ground without the fuel. Kitty couldn't wait to see how they got out of this one.

Since she was thinking about her book, it took a moment for the sight of Lockheed flying out the window with her Star of David dangling from his mouth to register.

"Lockheed!" she gasped, and rushed to the window, leaning out. "Lockheed! Get your scaly little butt back here with that necklace right now, mister!"

Lockheed ignored her, heading toward the lake.

Muttering angrily to herself, Kitty jumped out the window, air walking down to the ground, landing next to a startled Piotr who was sweeping the patio.

"Kitty? What is wrong?"

"Lockheed! That crazy little lizard took off with my Star of David necklace. My grandmother gave it to me, and if he loses it, I'm gonna wring his neck!" Kitty explained, running after the purple speck in the distance.

Piotr fell into step beside her easily, longer legs keeping pace with her flat out run. "How did Lockheed take the necklace without your noticing?"

"I left it on my dresser while I was in the Danger Room. I always do so it won't get snagged on something."

They entered the treeline, and Kitty lost sight of the little dragon. She scanned the sky anxiously.

"He was headed for the lake, if he drops it over the water..."

"I will transform to my steel form and retrieve it for you," Piotr reassured her. "If I must search every inch of duckweed on the lakebed."

"Aw, I couldn't ask you to do that, you'd rust," she joked, but reached up to squeeze his bicep. "Thanks, Peter."

As they came out of the trees, Kitty squinted at the banks of the lake. "What's that big pile of junk?"

"I brought some branches to burn..." Piotr trailed off. "Shto?"

Tinfoil and beads glimmered among the pine needles. Kitty let out a sigh of relief as she spotted Lockheed, perched among the branches, hanging her necklace on a protruding stick in the center.

"It's like a christmas tree," she exclaimed, spotting a rounded curve of blue glass tucked between branches, "a christmas tree the Blob sat on."

Piotr frowned, and pointed out the padded hollow, almost big enough to lie down in. "I think it is a nest."

Lockheed flapped over to land on Kitty's upraised forearm. "A nest? Aw, poor little Lockheed, are you lonely? There aren't any girl dragons here, you know. And that's an awfully big nest for such a dinky dragon." She gently stroked her pet, forgiving him.

Piotr's mouth quirked. "It is an awfully big nest. I do not think he intended it for his own use. I cannot help but notice that most of your jewelry adorns it."

Kitty looked, spotting the rest of her jewelry. "Yeah. Lockheed, did you build me a nest? Now, why would I need..."she looked up at Piotr. He raised his eyebrows. She giggled, blushing a little. "oh."

"Watching me pile the branches together, he must have thought I was making a poor attempt, and decided to complete it for us."

"CooOOOooo," the little dragon agreed enthusiastically.

Kitty repositioned Lockheed on her arm so that she could look into his eyes. "It was very sweet of you, Lockheed, but you shouldn't take things without permission."

Piotr picked up a pale blue shawl and shook it out, folding it. "He has wasted a whole package of cotton balls as well."

"People...Human People, not Dragon People...we don't build nests. We sleep in beds," she looked up with a mischievous glint in her eye. "At midnight on my eighteenth birthday I'm just gonna go to Peter's room and climb into bed with him. We don't need a nest." She grinned up at Piotr as a blush spread across his handsome face.

"It is a very nice nest," he murmured, embarrassed. "And a great deal of work for such a small dragon."

"And it's gonna take a lot of work to get it cleaned up," Kitty agreed glumly, face falling a little. So much for her Star Wars novel.

"I will help you," Piotr leaned down and carefully plucked the delicate chain supporting her Star of David from the branch it was draped across, and reached out to fasten it around her neck.

Lockheed took off, flying up to perch in an oak tree nearby. He didn't understand most of peepul tawk, but Kittee's face went darker pink, then Peedur's did, and then there was kissing. But as he watched, forehead wrinkling between his hornlets, they started pulling the nest apart.

"Pfui!" he sighed. They weren't mating. No cute little peepul hatchlings. Not yet, anyway.

The End.


End file.
